It has been two months since President Obama last held a press conference, but this morning he once again returned to the White House briefing room to take questions from reporters. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are all carrying the presser.

“I am here to answer questions in honor of Ed Henry, as he wraps up his tenure as the president of the White House Correspondents Association, in honor of that, Ed, you get the first question,” the President said.

Henry, the Fox News White House correspondent, asked about Syria, and its potential use of chemical weapons with the first question, and also asked about Benghazi.

CNN’s Jessica Yellin got the second question, and asked about the investigation into the Boston bombing.

Jonathan Karl from ABC News asked question three, and asked whether the President still had “the juice” to push his agenda through Congress.

Bill Plante, from CBS News, asked about the hunger strike in the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Chuck Todd from NBC asks question five, about the healthcare bill.

Antonieta Cádiz from Chilean news agency El Mercurio asked the final question, about U.S. immigration reform.

As he walked off stage, a reporter yelled at Obama about Jason Collins, the President returned to the podium to make a brief statement about Collins.

Substitutions in the middle of a game are pretty common in sports, but in cable news? Not so much.

And yet, this morning, MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” substituted Luke Russert for Chuck Todd right in the middle of the program. Todd threw to a commercial at 9:26, and when the show returned at 9:29, Russert was behind the desk:

“Welcome back to ‘The Daily Rundown,’ you are looking at the White House briefing room where President Obama is set to have a press conference at 10:15 AM,” Russert said. “So why is this Luke Russert talking to you? Well, Chuck Todd is on his way there.

“Traffic willing in this fair city, chuck Todd will be there in the first row,” Russert added.

At 10 AM, Chris Matthews took over anchoring duties. The presser is now slated for 10:30 AM.

All three evening newscasts were expanded Monday after a pair of explosions killed at least two people at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The newscasts began shortly after President Obama addressed the nation from the White House press briefing room at 6:10pmET. NBC’s Brian Williams, ABC’s Diane Sawyer and CBS’ Scott Pelley had been anchoring coverage on their respective networks since the news broke shortly after 3pmET. ABC News and NBC News took brief breaks from their respective special reports just before the official start of the evening newscasts at 6:30pmET.

CBS News had Terrell Brown reporting from the scene and Don Dahler reporting from Massachusetts General Hospital. At the beginning of “Evening News,” correspondent John Miller took a few minutes to “clarify all these reports we’re seeing about a suspect in the media.” Saying he wanted to “proceed very carefully from here on out,” Miller reported that the person who was detained is a Saudi national who was seen running from the scene. “That may mean a lot, that may mean nothing at all,” Miller cautioned, noting that many people were running away from the blasts.

On NBC News, Williams was joined by Katy Tur in Boston, Chuck Todd from Washington D.C. and Pete Williams on the Boston police investigation. Williams interviewed an eyewitness, Serdar Ozturk, who saw the explosion from the finish line. “People’s faces instantly changed from smile to tears, and fear,” he told Williams. “People started running for their lives.”

ABC News had reports from senior national correspondent Jim Avila, senior Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas and Linsey Davis from the scene. Sawyer also checked in with Alex Perez in Chicago and Cecelia Vega in Los Angeles about security precautions in place in those two cities. “World News” ended with a montage of still photos from the scene. “We thank you so much for watching tonight,” Sawyer said. “Boston, as you know, is one of America’s great cities, filled with resilience and spirit. So on this day, when something terrible happened, we wanted to remind you of all those who rushed to help.”

All three networks have more extended coverage planned. Williams will anchor a special report at 10pmET on NBC, Terry Moran will anchor “Nightline” live at 12:35amET on ABC, and Pelley remained on the air with “Evening News” through 8pmET.

Savannah Guthrie will interview President Obama this week on “Today.”

David Gregory announced the news at the close of today’s “Meet the Press,” saying the “wide-ranging, exclusive” interview will take place at the White House. The interview will air Tuesday and Wednesday on “Today.”

The interview is Guthrie’s second sit-down with the President. She previously interviewed him in September during NBC’s “Education Nation” summit.

More from NBC after the jump. Read more

This morning President Obama and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held a press conference in the West Bank. Unlike yesterday’s news conference with Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not every outlet decided to cover it.

CNN covered the newser from the start at 7:30, while Fox News broke in at 7:38. MSNBC stuck with “Morning Joe,” including a segment about wives staying at home rather than working. NBC News also aired a special report of yesterday’s news conference, but no broadcaster covered this morning’s newser live.

At 10:40 AM, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all started covering a speech President Obama is delivering to Israeli students. As a heckler shouted during his speech, the President replied “I have to say we arranged for that because it makes me feel at home.”

It did not appear to be Chuck Todd.

Shortly after 2:30pmET, President Obama and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium for a joint press conference from Jerusalem. Fox News, CNN and MSNBC took the press conference live. NBC News was the only broadcast network to offer a special report, anchored by Brian Williams in New York.

Obama and Netanyahu took three questions: one from the Israeli press, one from Matt Spetalnick of Reuters, and one from NBC’s Chuck Todd, who asked about the peace process. Todd asked several follow up questions, which led to an exchange with the President and Prime Minister.

“Do you guys do this in this Israeli press? You say you get one question, and then you add like five?” Obama asked jokingly. “Did you see how the young lady from Channel One — she had one question, and she was very well-behaved, Chuck.”

“I thought I had four questions,” Todd responded. “Passover starts in a couple days. I get four questions.”

“This is not a kosher question, but don’t hog it,” Netanyahu said.

Obama went on to his answer, calling Todd “incorrigible.”

David Gregory joked to Williams afterward, “That Chuck Todd included dietary law and Passover in his question is, I think, news and significant. Something they’ll be talking about in Jersusalem.”

NBC News has promoted Betsy Fischer Martin to senior executive producer of “Meet the Press,” and managing editor of NBC News political programming, TVNewser has learned.

In a memo to NBC staff, NBC News senior VP Antoine Sanfuentes praised Fischer’s leadership on the long-running Sunday show, and outlined her additional responsibilities:

Betsy’s experience and editorial judgment will help guide NBC News as it continues to be the leader in political reporting. She will also work with Chuck Todd and the NBC News political team, taking on additional responsibilities guiding the news division’s political news and information programming.

Sanfuentes’ full memo to staff is after the jump. Fischer Martin’s promotion comes just a few weeks after NBC News extended “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory‘s contract with the network.

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Federico Quadrani had already passed up an opportunity to move to Washington, DC to oversee Chuck Todd‘s MSNBC show, but the lure of Jake Tapper‘s new 4pm program on CNN was enough for him to make the move.

Quadrani has been with MSNBC since 2009, joining as weekend EP, before taking the reins of “The Daily Rundown,” but based in New York. Currently, he is the executive producer of 10am show “Jansing & Company.”

Before MSNBC, Quadrani worked for the “Today” show from 2003 to 2009, and was at ABC’s “Good Morning America” from 1998 to 2003.

“I’m thrilled to have Federico join me in leading our new team,” said Tapper. “In recent years he’s produced incisive political coverage, but his diverse news background is equally important. From his Peabody award-winning live coverage of 9/11 in the ABC News control room through his days producing textured taped pieces and remarkable live shots at NBC’s Today, Federico has built a reputation for finding great American stories and creating compelling content. His voice will help us build the informative, engaging and provocative program we want this to be.”

NBC’s coverage of President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union Address will begin at 8:45 PM Tuesday with an online web show at NBCNews.com, with network coverage kicking in at 9 Pm ET.

“NBC Nightly News” and “Rock Center” anchor Brian Williams will anchor the show, joined by David Gregory, Savannah Guthrie, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd and Kelly O’Donnell in the House chamber.

The network is planning full live coverage of the address and the Republican response, which will be delivered by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. After Rubio’s comments, Williams will interview Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA). There will also be active coverage on social media.

More information below.

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Egged on by Brian Williams, David Gregory, Chuck Todd and others, Al Roker got what might be considered the first interview of the second term of President Obama.

“Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President,” Roker yelled as Obamas walked the final portion of the Inaugural Parade. “How is it going? Is the weather good? You like it?,” he yelled. President Obama responded with a wave and a look up as an acknowledgment that it is indeed good. “I think you met the minimum standard,” said Williams. “Question asked, question answered.”

But it didn’t end there. A few minutes later as VP Biden and Dr. Biden walked by he yelled again. “Mr. Vice President. Mr. Vice President… Hey how you doing?” With laughter coming from the NBC booth, the Vice President came over and shook Roker’s hand. Dropping the mic, Roker said, “I’m done!”

Williams joked: “Al Roker, our new chief White House correspondent. Chuck Todd take tomorrow off.” Then Todd chimed in: “There’s a lot of history Al Roker’s making at the White House.” Todd is referring, of course, to this.

“Thank you for bringing that up. Appreciate it,” said Roker.

Roker added that there is indeed TV history here. “Willard Scott was the guy who set the bar when Barbara Bush came over and kissed him during their inaugural parade. All weather people owe their chances to do this to Willard Scott.”

Video after the jump…

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